Sprinkler head assembly



April 7, 1953 I G. OfDOUBLE 2,634,163

' SPRINKLER HEAD ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 20, 1948 2 swims-5mm 1 FIE I- 52' gvwwwto'v l 94- [jLENN U J:]II7LJELE ATTOR N EYS April 7, 1953 e; 0. DOUBLE 2,634,163

SPRINKLER HEAD ASSEMBLY 1 Filed Feb. 20, 1948 2 SHEETS-SI-IEET 2 ELENNUDULJBLE ATTOR NEYS Patented Apr. 7, 1953 NilT ED STATES PATENT OFFICE SPRINKLEIVHEAD-ASSEMBLY -Glenn 10.1. Double, Hillsdale Mich, Application February 20, 1948-,"Se1'ialNo; 9,825"

This'invention relates to sprinkler systems;--and *moreparticulai-ly tothe'provision of asprinkler "head assembly which may be adjusted selectively to spray in-one quadrantr-of a-circle, in-a complete circle, r or in any possible combination or "quadrants in" a circle.

As long as people have'been' sprinkling lawns, there has been'the problem of accomplishing the "sprinkling without unduly wastingwater, and without spraying water-over sidewalks, walls, and

buildings adjoining the-area to be sprinkled.

Various types-of sprinkler heads have been developed"to-accomplish this selective sprinkling,

"andr'recognize that it is not-new to provide-a sprinkler headwhich' will sprinklein one, two,

three, and four quadrants selectively. I'be- *lieve, however, that it is "new to provide a sprinklerhead which" will sprinkle in thequad- "rantsenumerated selectively and in diametrically opposed quadrants, theselection being; accomplished not by the installationof' alternate parts,

butpby 'utilizing a' pair of. selectively perforated discsacting as avalve in combinationwithza diverting head structure-which is divided into f' four iquadrants.

It is. therefore .1 an obj ect of 1 this invention; to

"provide .a. sprinkler head which will sprinkleiin one, two, three, or. four: quadrants of r a; circleas well astwo diametrically opposed quadrants.

It. is also-an" object toflprovide a. quadrantlyse- "lective sprinklerhead which may be adjusted .to sprinkle selectively as .desired by rotating 1a knurled knob' atop the sprinkler head.

. Itrisalso an object to-provide a selective "sprinkler/head .bearing' indicatinggmeans. on top of thexhead to make apparent the particularset- 'tingpf the internal structure.

A further object is( to provide asprinklerhead,

thejdiverting cap of Which..is. diyidedtintot quadrants-and formed, to break, the water up into a fine spray and to'deliver it' in a 90". arc..

Further'objects and-advantages of my invention will be apparent. from a consideration of the following'specification' in connection with the appended claim and the accompanying drawings,

in which,

'Fig. I-is'a view partially in' elevation'andfpartially in section showing'theassembled sprinkler head :Eig-rIIls a view: in perspective-showing the.

' .divlderdiso and. the shaft on which it, is mounted,

.FighIII is :aview in'-.:perspective' showing' 'the body-capand its associated shaft,

Figi IV is. a:.plan iview showing the sprinkler head set to; sprinkle inone quadrantvonly,

rolaim. (01;.299-518) Fig. V is'the'plan view showing the-sspr inkler head set-to sprinkle in two adjacent quadrants. Fig vl'is wplan View showing the sprinkler 'headset tosprinkle in three quadrants,

[Dis threaded onv the 'watersupply pipe [2 which maybe connected" as shown to a suitable L M mounted on a base is and connected to-a' garden hose Ides-shown, or may be made apart of a.

permanent underground sprinkling installation. The sprinkler head i ll comp-rises a body portion 20"whichis cylindrical, encloses an inner'chamber 2|; and presentsaclosed lower'face' 22 with the threaded aperture 24 adapted toreceive'the water supply pipe H2. The body'cap 26 presents "a lower piston-like portion'28 for close engagementwithin the body "20, and is "inserted'into the body 29 until "the" shoulder 30 engages ,the

upper annular edge 32 of the bodylfl. The lower surface 34' of the body cap "26 is; finished: so. that it lies as'vnearly aspossibleima'plane perpendicular to'the'axis, of thebodyzfl and the body cap '28. "The bo'dycap. 26 is'fitted with;four ports 36; 38, 40 and 42, these ports being drilled parallel tothe'iaxis-of'thebody2fliand the body cap, 26, and providingcommunication between the. inside of the'body 2B and the outsideof the entire structure, *beingpositioned at from each other. Thesurface 34 ofthe body*cap"26 is'formed with a recess 44 *to expose the port'42 to communication-with the chamber}! within the body.20, the recess' 44 being preferably cored 'out' of thesurface 34 for adistance which will expose the entire port 42 and for a suitable depthsuch asa sixteenth of aninch. The body cap 25is completed by an'upstanding, cylindrical 'shaftdfi having a threaded upper end48' to receive the nut"50 and'having anaxial hole 52, the purpose of which will appear later.

"The circular: divider disc 54- is axiallymounted on the stem 56111331 some means such as a pres's fit .or the use of a small connector -58," and is positioned within the: chamber 2! and held engagement withthe surface 34 by the action of'xthe coil spring: 66 l'which'may be of helical formation: as: shown. This permits the stem -56 to lie within the aperture 52 and to project above the nut 56, where, at its upper end, the knurled adjusting knob 62 is held in place by the engagement of the screw 64 within the internally threaded upper end 66, and by the indicator hand 68 which projects through a suitable aperture into the knob 62 and an aperture 12 in the stem 56. The divider disc 54 is formed with four drilled apertures parallel to the axis of the shaft 56, the apertures 14, 16 and 18 being at 90 to each other, and the aperture 86 being positioned roughly 30 from the aperture 16 and 60 from the aperture 14. It is not absolutely necessary that the angular distance between the apertures 16 and 80 should be exactly 30, although in the model that I have constructed I have used this angular distance. The apertures l4, l8 and 86 are spaced from the axis of the disc 64 at a dis tance exactly equal to the distance which the ports 36, 38, 46 and 42 are spaced from the axis of the cap 26 so that upon proper rotary movement of the knurled nut 62, thereby rotating the shaft 56, the divider disc 54'will be rotated, causing the apertures I4, 16, i8 and 86 to be aligned selectively with various of the ports 36, 36, 46 and 42, thereby allowing communication between the chamber 2! and the outside of the sprinkler In, which allows water to be introduced through the water pipe [2, and selectively channeled through the open port or ports to accomplish the spraying operation.

The diffuser or divider head 62 is constructed with a cylindrical axial channel 64 so that the divider head 62 may be assembled over the shaft 46 as shown in Fig. I, and is fitted with a circular recessed portion 86 to permit the assembling of the nut 56 over the threaded portion 48 in such a way that the nut 56 does not project unduly beyond the top surface 88 of the divider head 82. The top surface. 88 may be either circular as shown in the drawing or square if desired, and is provided with a number of reference or index lines 96 adjacent to which are stamped the figures I, 2, 3, 4, and l3. The indexing lines 96 are positioned at a 30 angular distance from each other, which distance is controlled by the angular distance between the apertures l6 and 8D in the divider disc 54, and are used as reference marks in connection with the rotation of the knurled knob 62 and its associated indicator hand 66, so that when the indicator hand r 68 covers the index mark 96 adjacent to number I as shown .in Fig. IV, it is to be expected that the number I quadrant will be the only one from which water will spray upon operating the sprinkler head. The lower surface 92 of the divider head 82 is frustoconical in'shape to complement the inner frustoconical upper surface of the body cap 26. The divider head 62 isalso formed with four dividing wings 94 which are formed at 90 to each other, and which extend from the topmost portion of the divider head 62 down to contact with the upper surface of the body cap 26, thereby dividing the water diffusing structure into four equal quadrants. The divider head 82 is assembled over the body cap 26 and is located by means of a divider locating pin, not shown, which projects from the body cap 26 into an aperture in the divider head 82, so that each of the dividing planes 94 lie on the bisector of the 90 angles between the several pairs of ports 36, 38, 40 and 42. To furnish a proper diffusing and deflecting surface for the water emerging from the ports 94 the divider head 82, is shaped with the concave surfaces 96,

as best shown in Fig. I. The upper part of the concave surface 96 is preferably of a smooth radius formation, in order that there may be no concentrating of the diffused spray of water to a given point, and the water may be diffused and scattered in a fine spray, from each of the surfaces 96 over a wide area roughly conforming to the angular distance between adjacent planes 94.

In Fig. IX is shown a slightly different formation of a divider head, in which the divider head 82' is formed with a central axial aperture 64' and the cylindrical recess 86' in the top surface 88. Th radial deflecting dividing planes 64 and the lower frustoconical surface 92 are identical in construction with those shown in Fig. I. The difference in this particular diffusing head 82' lies in the central diffusing faces 98, of concave formation. On each of these diffusing faces 98 there is provided extra shoulder formations 166 adjacent the radial dividers 94, the shoulders I66 extending substantially from the engagement with the upper surface of the body cap 26 to the upper end of the divider 82, and acting upon the flow of water to give a slightly different pattern than that given by the use of the divider head 82.

In operation, it will be found possible, having set up the sprinkler as shown in Fig. I and having a flow of water through the hose l8, the L fitting l4 and the supply pipe I2 into the chamber 2!, and setting the indicator hand 68 by rotation of the knurled knob 62 at the indicator line 96 opposite the figure l, to spray water out of only one of the four quadrants available. When the control is set as shown in Fig. IV, water is allowed to pass from the chamber 2| around the end of the divider disc 54, through the recess portion 44 through the port 42 and out to the surface 96 from whence it is deflected on to the lawn. It will be seen from a study of Fig. IV that none of the apertures 74, 16, 18 or 86 are aligned with any of the ports 36, 38, 46 or 42. In effect, since the water is allowed at all times to pass from the chamber 2| through the recess 44 and out through the port 42, any setting of the indicator hand 68 which does not align any of the holes in the divider disc 54 with any of the ports in the body cap 26 will still cause a spray to be sent out from the number I quadrant. Upon rotating the knurled knob 62 for an angular distance of 30 in a counterclockwise direction so that th indicator hand 68 overlies the indicator line 96 adjacent the figure 2, the port 86 in the divider disc 54 will be aligned with the port 36 in the body cap 26, thereby allowing'water to be sprayed out through the second quadrant as well as the first quadrant. The other apertures in the divider disc 54 are not aligned with any of the ports in the body cap 26, and therefore no water will emit from the other quadrants. This can best be seen from a study of Fig. V. In Fig. VI, the sprinkler head is shown set to spray from three quadrants, with the indicator hand 66 set opposite the indicator line 90 adjacent the figure 3. In this setting, aperture 14 is aligned with port 36 and aperture 18 is aligned with port 36, thereby furnishing water from the chamber 2| out through three of the quadrants. In Fig. VII the sprinkler head is shown with the indicator hand over the index line opposite the figure 4, which indicates that water will issue from all four of the quadrants. It can be seen from a study of Fig. VII that the aperture 14 is aligned with the port 36, the aperture 16 is aligned with port 38, and the apertur 18 is aligned with the port 40, which will allow water to issue from the chamber 2| through the three side ports as well as through the port 12 by reason of the water flowing through the recess 44. A study of Fig. VIII will show that aperture 80 is aligned with the port 38, and that the other apertures in the divider disc 54 are not aligned with any of the ports in the body cap 28, thereby allowing water to issue through the ports 42 and 38 which are diametrically opposed.

I do not intend to limit myself to the divider disc shown with four apertures I4, l6, l8 and 80 in the positions in which they are arranged in the drawing, for I realize that it would be possible to shift either the aperture Hi or the aperture 18 over 90 from their present positions and diametrically opposite the aperture 16. This would necessitate a reworking of the index system marked on the surface 88 of the divider head 82, but this may be done without departing from the spirit of my invention. I likewise do not Wish to limit myself to the provision of a 30 angular distance between the aperture 16 and the aperture 80, for I realize that practically any angular distance between any two adjacent apertures which are 90 from each other will allow an index system to be set up on top of the surface 88 to cause the divider disc to direct the water as desired.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim and protect by Letters Patent is:

A sprinkler head assembly comprising a hollow body means adapted to connect said body to a source of water under pressure, a difiusing head mounted on top of said body, a vertical central axial aperture defined by said difiusing head, a. plurality of ports defined by said body and positioned at equal radial distances from the axis of said body and extending from inside said body to the outside of said body substantially parallel to the axis of said body and below said diffusing head, a rotatable plate positioned Within said body below said port defining portion of said body adjacent the top surface of said body, a shaft axially mounted on said rotatable plate and axially extending through said aperture in said diifusing head, a plurality of apertures defined in said rotatable plate at radial distances to allow their alignment with said ports, and actuating means associated with said shaft and positioned above said diffusing head for imparting rotary movement to said plate to align said apertures selectively with part or all of said ports.

GLENN 0. DOUBLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 919,737 Loomis et al. Apr. 27, 1909 1,157,973 Baum Oct. 26, 1915 1,181,145 Larson May 2, 1916 1,624,317 Crownover Apr. 12, 1927 1,646,299 Mandry Oct. 18, 1927 2,190,639 Wittek Feb. 13, 1940 2,493,595 Rieger Jan. 3, 1950 

